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It was just a normal day for Candace.

And then there came a knock on the door.

She blinked, looking up from her notebook. "It's open.."

To Candace this was just normal for Molly. She was smiling as the young woman entered the apartment, closing her notebook and pushing it to one side. "Of course not, I'm never too busy for you," she told Molly cheerfully. She got up out of her chair, looking curious about what Molly had for her. She'd mentioned a present? She didn't have to but...she wouldn't reject anything from Molly.

Candace's smile grew. "Molly, you really didn't need to," she crooned affectionately as she took the present, unwrapping and opening it to see what it was. She gasped softly, taking out the knit scarf and rubbing it with her fingers. It was so soft! "It's so lovely! Thank you!" And with the winter months coming this was wonderful! Candace made a happy noise and wrapped the scarf around her neck, fastening the button and looking up as Molly offered a cupcake.

She squealed with delight. "Mollyyyyyyy! You're so sweet!" Candace took the cupcake. "I almost don't want to eat it, it's so pretty!"

"Oh, can you?" Candace asked cheerfully while she unwrapped her cupcake and carefully took a bite out of it. God, it was delicious just like everything Molly made. If Molly was going to make more she was more than welcome to, and if she did then Candace would demand to eat some of it.

She was eating another bite when Molly brought up wedding cakes. Candace's brow furrowed and she eyed the girl suspiciously at first. Why was..she..?

Hm.

Swallowing her bite, Candace paused to think of what to say. This was Molly, Molly never had ulterior motives. She meant what she said.. "Oh? Would you really?"

Candace picked at her cupcake, carefully eating one of the icing flowers. She listened to Molly's explanation as to why she had brought up the whole wedding cake thing. So she was simply reminiscing..

Still..

"You would have been an amazing wedding cake decorator..perhaps you could speak with Jordan, Harrison, and Rep. They're planning on getting married sometime and having you make the cake for them could be helpful."

"Well, everyone on the island likes you. And I'm sure Harrison would love it if you asked since he's in charge of their budget, I think. And Rep loves you, too. It'd be great for everyone~!" She smiled encouragingly at the girl. If it was something she wanted to do then Candace felt it was best if she had that chance!

Candace was finishing her cupcake when Molly brought up her getting married. She gasped, choking on a piece of the cake for a moment and quickly getting up to essentially flee to the kitchen for a bottle of water. She drank it, downing nearly half of it before she finally returned to Molly. What the hell, Molly? "I've never, uh, thought about it. Marriage isn't..really.." She frowned, moving to sit beside Molly. Maybe if she explained it to someone not Dakota it would help make sense of everything. Dakota didn't seem to quite..get it.

"I didn't grow up around a healthy marriage..and...everyone I knew, most of their own parents were divorced or ******** up in some way..so to me marriage was just this poison that ruined what had probably been a perfectly good relationship." She turned the water bottle in her hands, focusing intently on it. "And until Dakota I've never had a very good track record in terms of relationships..." Until Dakota. She did have a good thing with Dakota.

She looked to the door, still frowning. He lived here now, she'd never moved in with a man before. She'd stayed a few nights with Jerry, and for awhile she'd practically lived in H's office since it was so close to where she needed to be on a regular basis. Candace squeezed the bottle.

"I've never thought about my wedding, I never intended on ever getting married.." She shrugged. "Dakota wants to, he's hinted at it a few times. I just...don't know.." Candace sagged a little. After a bit she looked up again. "I like a rich chocolate cake..and red velvet. Red velvet isn't for everyone though."

Molly's question actually came as a surprise. She didn't feel offended by it, the question was..interesting. It actually did make her think. Candace didn't say anything at first, she sat there and really thought about it. She had said it ruined perfectly good relationships, though she never really had taken the time to put it out on the table why other than observation. What made it so toxic to her other than what she had experienced? She frowned and settled down to cuddle beside Molly, rubbing her new knitted scarf between her thumb and forefinger. This was something she couldn't just take lightly.

Aside from a couple dalliances with Tuck, Candace had been..pretty faithful since their first date on New Year's Eve, actually. She rubbed her lips together, frowning but still staying quiet. Monogamy with him had been a huge step, and asking him to live with her had been a very huge one as well...

What was it about marriage that was still holding her back?

"It..." she ruffled her hair a bit, a sign of mild frustration. "I don't..know. Being married just seems somehow..different. I guess I'm just scared, you know? When he asked for monogamy my worry was 'what if I mess it up again'? And so far I haven't, it hasn't even been a challenge. But there's just..I don't know. What if I'm just...in the moment? What if one day I wake up and..just.." She frowned. She didn't want to say the thought out loud, she felt ashamed even having the worry. Candace didn't want to look like she was having second thoughts about Dakota, because she never had, but it was hard to express her feelings without coming off that way. "We're together all the time, yeah. I feel like I could be with him forever, and I like the pretty jewelry that comes out of being proposed to~ I'm just...still scared." Candace made an unhappy whining sound and sank down to curl up on her side, her head on Molly's lap and her eyes closed. She wanted hair pettings and sympathy from Mollybird. "I don't know how to explain it without sounding like a b***h."

Candace actually flinched at Molly's question. "When you put it that way it sounds terrible. But no, I don't quite mean that..." She didn't think she could stop loving Dakota even if she wanted to, she couldn't stop it from happening to begin with. "I don't know if I can explain it.." Candace frowned. "Does it make me a bad person, you think?"